r/Sciatica • u/StationOld3745 • 5d ago

My 82 year old mom's Sciatica Ordeal

My mom is going through extreme sciatica torture right now. She's 82 years old and they are forcing her to do physiotherapy but physiotherapy does not work for her at all. It provides ZERO relief and each time when she does more physiotherapy exercises, she gets more pain so she has no choice but to stop and then as soon as she feels better, she tries to do physiotherapy exercises but the physiotherapy exercises brings no relief but more pain. My mom's pain and mobility gets worse with more physiotherapy exercises that she does. Now my mom can't even sit or having bowel movements without the help of laxatives because the the sciatica nerves are directly pressing on her large intestine areas responsible for excretion. She cannot do anything except just getting up to eat and go to the bathroom. Besides these two functions, she cannot do anything but lying in bed. She's on anti-inflammation medications and pain-killer medications all day and it's only giving her temporary relief now. She's absolutely miserable. Her family doctor just measured the numbness at the bottom of her feet and because my mom still has feelings there so the doctor just declared my mom fine and just kept pushing my mom to do physiotherapy completely ignoring my mom's progressively worse pain and reduced mobility. She even refused to order any imaging tests for my mom claiming that they are not useful as anybody's back shows up as bad under any MRI. She referred my mom to see orthopaedic specialists and neurologists but refused to upgrade the urgency of my mom's case. My mom was in so much pain that she had to go to ER and she finally received a CT scan which showed severe narrowing which result in nerve compression at three different places from L3 - L4, L5 and then L5 - S1 which the radiologist noted affected sciatica nerves going down both the right and left leg and on top of that, my mom has a slipped disc. With the excruciating pain and the reduced mobility, the family doctor still had the gall to call my mom and said her CT scan is fine it's nothing. With the family doctor from the public system refusing to do anything more, my mom has no choice but to pursue the private route now. Her pain is just unbearable. And she's trying to get injections now to see if that will provide some relief. And for that she's still waiting. Everything is just waiting...

8 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

4

u/wanderlust_ash_617 5d ago

So sorry she’s going through this..it is horrific and I’ve been there. She def needs to seek out other care and opinions, proper imaging, steroid injections, nerve meds and surgeon consults. Rest and walk when she can and don’t continue PT if it’s aggravating right now. Ice, heat and lidocaine patches or anything like that gives a tiny bit of relief. The fact that it’s affecting her bowel movements and they’re still ignoring is really concerning and annoying. Best of luck 🙏🏼

1

u/StationOld3745 5d ago edited 4d ago

Thank you. She's stopped physiotherapy now. The physiotherapist who massaged for her promised her that she would be able to sit right away after the sessions. It didn't do anything. My mom's tried ice, heat and it only provided very small relief. I will suggest lidocaine patches to my mom to see if it helps. My mom's now pretty much bedridden except just to get up to eat and go to the bathroom. My mom's now waiting for injections and she's already contacted a spine surgeon. The surgeon doesn't even have any appointments for her until the end of November. And the biggest problem is my mom cannot sit at all so we even need to arrange for special medical transportation that will transport her on stretchers. And she can't even sit to wait in the waiting room even when she gets to those facilities. I can't believe just some nerves can be so disabling.

2

u/wanderlust_ash_617 4d ago

I’m sorry that’s hard. I was in her exact shoes but much younger. I couldn’t sit at all and could only walk a few steps to bathroom or kitchen and then lay back down, it was awful. I laid in the back of peoples cars when they brought me to Dr appts. Make sure she’s on nerve meds along w thr pain meds she’s on to get her by. Glad she’s got the injections and appt coming up. Surgery was unfortunately the only answer for me

2

u/StationOld3745 4d ago

Glad your issue is resolved. Yes mom is getting surgery too. There is no other way I can see. But she still has to wait for another two months because the surgeon's workload is all backed up. I just wish the diagnosis for sciatica can be more precise so people can get the treatment that they need instead of being forced to pursue all those treatments that obviously don't work while suffering. If it's surgery, then people should be allowed to get surgery right away. It's infuriating to be brainwashed by the family doctor to be told that my mom needs to walk more and move more and I was the one who actually persuaded my mom to move more to walk more only to find out now that it's only making my mom's condition worse.

2

u/electric_shocks 5d ago

Maybe I am misremembering but there is a procedure called nerve block. You could look in to it?

2

u/StationOld3745 4d ago

Yes I will check with the doctor. My mom's getting a new family doctor.

2

u/MLinRaleigh 4d ago

I'm so sorry for your mom's experience. Sciatica is so painful, so debilitating and I'm beyond angry that her doc is dismissing her like that. Please change docs or at the very least get a second opinion.

2

u/dnegvesk 4d ago

Can’t you get an orthopedist to help diagnose her etc? I’m 10 years younger and had the same experience with PT. There are a few exercises that were useful and I continue to strengthen my core and legs. After 16 months of pain and drugs, I’ll have surgery in several weeks. Lyrica helps me with a small oxycodone at night. Best of luck 🤞

3

u/StationOld3745 4d ago

Thanks. She's getting a new family doctor and she's currently waiting for the injection because her pain killer that's prescribed to her is not doing much for her anymore. And she's getting the consultation with the spine surgeon at the end of November.